Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 21:19:45 -0800 (PST)
From: "John S. James"
Subject: Computer Censorship and AIDS
Computer Censorship and AIDS: Letter to San Francisco Examiner,
December 31. Permission granted to retransmit this message, or to
use the text in your letters to newspapers or otherwise.
Editor:
The banning of a Star Trek discussion from millions of Americans
(San Francisco Examiner, December 30), apparently because a
German prosecutor in Munich mistakenly thought it was child
pornography, should be a wake-up call. The U.S. Congress could soon
do much worse. It is likely to pass the Communications Decency Act,
a law so poorly thought out that it will criminalize parents who give
safer-sex information to their own children, criminalize children for
their private email to each other, and prevent public libraries from
computerizing books they have had on their shelves for years.
Teachers, officials, and others can be arrested in San Francisco and
prosecuted in the most conservative parts of the country, and private
groups will have incentives to push for such trials.
The proposed law will cripple efforts to reduce the information gap
between the rich and poor. A recent report to President Clinton
recommended that the U.S. give all schoolchildren access to the
Internet. Surely officials will think twice about participating, if the
Internet becomes a legal minefield that can strike them at any time.
But the greatest problem may be that the law will ban most AIDS
prevention information from the Internet, from adults as well as
children. The Internet is the future of AIDS prevention, because it is
interactive, and publication and distribution costs are negligible. This
immensely important communication tool may be ruled off limits
before we learn how to use it for public health.
Sincerely yours,
John S. James
Editor and Publisher, AIDS Treatment News